This cartoon is from the March/April 2010 issue of Dollars & Sense: Real World Economics available at http://www.dollarsandsense.org

The Other Greenspan Bubble

By Jill Mazzetta

Now that Alan Greenspan has admitted
that the economic crisis proved his
core economic theories to be wrong,
it’s hard to remember the near-mystical
aura that once surrounded him.
Just ask erstwhile worshippers like
Brian McAnaney, who now hides his giant,
hand-painted portrait of
Greenspan in his closet.

During Greenspan’s heyday, an artist
named Erin Crowe discovered she
had a knack for painting his portrait.
Her paintings soared in popularity;
eager patrons paid up to $150,000 to
hang Greenspan’s likeness in their
homes and offices.

But after the housing bubble burst,
the portraits lost much of their appeal.
In an eerie parallel to the subprime
debacle, owners now hide the portraits
away, unable to find any buyers.
“They were painted in a bubble economy,
and Erin’s paintings were bubbles,”
McAnaney told the Wall Street
Journal recently.

These paintings of Greenspan are a
little creepy, and not just the thought
of hanging one of them on your bedroom
wall. They’re a perfect symbol of
the cult-like following Greenspan used
to enjoy—and that, alas, the notion of
the unfettered free market still enjoys
in some quarters.

Barry Deutsch is a cartoonist living in Portland, Ore. An original "Ampersand" cartoon appears in every issue of D&S. See more of his work at amptoons.com.

Jill Mazzetta is a Dollars & Sense intern and a student at Emerson College.